Have you considered a "Gravel" or enduro road bike to split the difference?

There are lots of options but I was in the same boat as you a few years ago. I wanted to do some winter riding, maybe some trail riding, but also wanted something I could put slicks on and do some road riding.

I ended up getting a GT Grade and it's a fantastic bike but doing just about everything. In the winter I put 35s on it and ride around on the trails. In the spring and fall I put slicks on it and ride around on the roads when I need a break from my road bike.

Now there are lots of these "Enduro/gravel" bikes that come in a wide range of prices. I'm not sure about sub 1k pricing, but maybe you could find a used one.

I have only ever owned two bikes:

My first purchase was a 2009 Focus Mares Cyclocross bike I got on craigslist for $550 in 2015. It was still probably the best purchase I've ever made. I can easily swap between 38c cross tires and road tires. I commute on it, can throw it on the trainer if my tri bike isn't around, or I can bring it down to our dirt trails and actually have some fun on it. Since I'm not racing crits I don't feel like I'm missing anything by not having a proper road bike. Also if I'm riding with a group, which is fairly rare, we're all riding our tri bikes anyways.

Having this bike in addition to my tri bike is perfect for me. Frankly just having something to commute on with fatter tires is worth it.

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Your looking for a compromise, so you'll never quite get 100% satisfaction from whatever you choose.

If you must have a bike for road and cross, then get something with a snappy geometry with shorter chainstays and a steeper head tube so it doesn't feel like a dog when in road mode.
I know someone who races crits on a slack CX bike with road tires, but I sure wouldn't.

Gearing: compact crank. Get a chain catcher.

Bar width you'll have to compromise. I prefer 42cm for CX, but ride 38cm for road. Too narrow for CX sucks.

Personally I’d go with the CX bike. More versatile. Just really think through the geometry. Imo you should have no problem finding a bike that meets your budget.

Thanks all for the feedback. Seems like no one really regrets the multipurpose approach, understanding it's a compromise. That said, would still love to hear from anyone who in hindsight wishes they'd gotten a pure road bike instead for a counter viewpoint. If there's no such feedback, great.

Regarding a "gravel bike" vs. cyclocross bike which a few have mentioned (just chose this post at random to respond to): I've been focused on a cross bike because, from what I've seen, their geometry is closer to the types of road bikes I'd be looking at, where as bikes marketed as all-road or gravel seem to be slacker yet, so not as aggressive as I'd prefer. Also, I'm interested in gravel riding the least compared to road riding or CX, so I was focusing on whatever would be the best for those, and think a cross bike would be capable enough for the odd gravel ride I do.

Thanks again.

Not much help to the conversation but I will add that I consider my $800 purchase of a CAADX off craigslist to be my smartest decision of the last few years.

I do have lots of trails around though and my commute is so much more enjoyable via the trails versus road

Salsa journeyman 999$ retail.

Maurice

I’ll vote for a used road bike, just to mix it up. ( do you have to get rid of the CX bike?)

If you ride majority road, a proper road bike will be a real treat with a lighter, tighter design and likely taller gears to add some speed to you ur downhill/downwind sections. If you’re ever in group rides, a road bike will be a better fit with similar gearing and braking to others in the group.

I have 1/2 dozen bikes, and I always love the first few miles on Bike Y after riding Bike X for a while. I may go through a month tiding mostly mountain or gravel, and getting on my roadie feels like jumping in a Porsche after driving an SUV around... but I get the same smile jumping on my MTB after a road or tri training block as I steamroll over obstacles, enjoy the upright position and suspension. Variety is good!

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

There is a downside to true cross bikes. They will be twitchy at speed, uncomfortably so in my experience on road descends. A proper cross bike will have a high BB (or low BB drop) a long and low geometry to allow for an aggressive position with a short stem. This makes perfect sense on a technical cross circuit but leads to a bike that will try and kill you on fast road descends. I use a cross bike as a winter trainer sometimes and it is no where near as good on the road at speed as a road bike with the same wheels and tires.

Modern gravel bikes have lower BB and shorter reach numbers to counteract the issues of using a CX bike on the road. The shorter reach numbers allow for the use of a longer stem and the lower BB provides more stability at speed. I do think it is important to think about the stem length difference when looking at the geometry charts because you design a CX bike like a mountain bike assuming a short stem and wider bars whereas road and gravel bikes are designed for a different front end configuration.

Overall if you aren't racing CX I would go with a gravel bike. It will handle any off road training and will manage a race course even if the handling is much slower than you may want. It will also perform well on the road.

I definitely agree with you there.
Having said that, I've currently got 3 bikes (road, tri and an all rounder) and will certainly consider making it two when I replace my road bike by going with something capable of some trails too. Bikes take up a lot of space and the all-rounder rarely gets used although I do like to have the option. It's a Specialized Tricross that I used first as a road bike for a couple of years and then after getting a Canyon Ultimate, it was converted into a tri bike of sorts with clip-ons and a forward saddle until I decided I'd be doing more triathlon and bought a Felt IA. For the last 3.5 years the Tricross has had CX tyres on it and only occasionally gets pressed into gravel and canal path duty. If the road bike could handle knobbly 32mm+ tyres, I'd get rid of the Tricross. Less stuff is better so long as it covers all the bases without excessive compromise.

Cross or gravel bike (with road-ish geometry; not a slacked out drop bar mountain bike) with a relatively high volume but low rolling resistance gravel tire.

I got a Raleigh Willard 4 gravel bike head wheels Shimano 105 components and praxis cranks I absolutely love the geometry a little heavy but a lot of bike for what I paid just over a thousand

Good points, thanks. I won't be racing CX extensively, but also don't want to completely give it up or keep doing it on my current bike, mainly due to the poor braking. I won't be racing crits or road races either, so that's why I'm weighing the compromises.

Yeah, this is a big part of why I haven't bought into getting a new CX bike yet. I don't need to get rid of the cross bike, but I want something better for racing and don't do much gravel, so there's really no need to keep it around. 1/2 dozen bikes would be great, I'm just not in a position to have that many, that are at least worth riding.

Appreciate the feedback

Well the sub-$1000 cross bike with disc brakes seems like your choices will be limited to whatever you can find (don't expect a deal at the beginning of cross season) and the heavily used market (which means you will probably figure out that there is already a lot of wear on the components, which means you will spend more replacing nick-nacks like tires, brake pads, chain, chain rings, chain ,cassette, cables.....).

Gravel bike geometry is great for riding gravel, but is a real limitation for both cross and road. Remember these are designed more as a cross between a mountain bike and a cross bike.

At least 70% of the braking force is from the front wheel, so if you want the majority of the benefits of discs on a cross bike, you could just find a used front fork, wheel, and cable-pull brake caliper to upgrade your current cross bike. Then spend the remainder on a good used road bike. With the transition to discs starting to take off there should be some killer deals on really nice road bikes.

When my road bike is in the shop and I'm riding my Crux on the road, I can't wait till I have my road bike back. I love the geometry and snappiness of the Crux for cyclocross. . . it's amazing off road. . . but doing long miles on the road. . . pass. Your observation about getting more road bike for the money is generally spot on and yes, hydro brakes are day and night better than mechanical. That said you can absolutely race on mechanical and be successful even on technical courses.

As much as I don't want to put more time and money into the old bike, this idea really intrigues me. I'll look into it, thanks.

Used my cross bike (Santa Cruz Stigmata) as a my road bike for a little over a year. Had one set of wheels set up for road and another set up for cross/gravel and didn't mind switching back and forth at all. Very comfortable to ride on the road solo or with a group. I personally had no issue with how the bike handled on the road.

Only issue I had was the gearing. I wanted to keep it as a 1x as I prefer that setup for gravel and cross, but I didn't find it to be that great on the road. I ran a 42 up front and 11-40 on the back. It was great for climbing, but the 42-11 combo would have me spinning out on most descents. I also wasn't a fan of the big jumps on the cassette. On flat road I would often find myself either spinning or mashing and trying to find that "just right" gear got old over time.

Obviously I could have switched it to a 2x or gone with a different 1x groupset, but ultimately decided instead of investing money on new parts I'd just put that money into a new road bike.

Although I ended up going back to having separate road and cross/gravel bikes I think if you're cool having the cross/gravel bike set up as a 2x it's a great option and would totally work.

I'd get the cross bike, maybe gear a little tall like 44 single and put a big cassette on back or swap rings in the fall. Mechanical disks kind of suck. Canti is where the bargains are . I have some friends who built up the trek Crockett that thing is a wonderful bike it's pretty affordable and very light if you put decent wheels on it plus you can run it single speed if you are inclined